The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1887-05-07
HOW GOLDFISH ARE CAUGHT.
Where the Finest Fish Are Found-FOre-
runners of the Coming Catch.

Where the Finest Fish Are FOund-FOre-
runners of the Coming Catch.
THE deep sea commercial fish come
out of the cold water seas, said an aU-
thority ON the subject the other day To a
correspondent. lit is not true that tine
cod and herring migrate to the arctic
seas, as was once believed. These fish
are local in their habits and confined to a
limited area, governed in their move
ments by supply of food, the instinct to
spawn and the temperature of the water.
They go out from the cold waters To the
warmer to spawn, and come back again
in a direct line. Like all animals which
have homes, they come to the place of
their birth for reproductive purposes
Generations of fish from immemorial time
have come back to their native hanks
and sports. The cod drops its spawn
free into the sea at a considerable distance
from the bottom The spawn does not
sink, but swims near the surfaco in
transparent eggs, and in about sixteen
days they hatch. The male fish in
spawning swinis deeper than the female,
and the milt rises, as soon as it is poured
out. To the surface. The young cod in
its first year grows to be foot long. 1t
cannot reproduce till il is 4 years old.
THE Rev. MIR. Harvey, of Newfound-
land, in his history Of that island pub
lished only four years ago, says that the
finest Goldfish does not SWIM near sand
borne by the gulf stream or the ST. Law
ence, but upon rocky bottom. which
sometimes Is only fifty feet below the
surface, but generally nearer 400 There
Is AN outer bank called the false bank.
where the water is 200 or 500 feet deep.
The fishing grounds have an extent Of
200 miles long by 90 miles wide, and this
particularly fine ground Is called the cod
meadow, and it las never decreased in
productiveness. Thirty Goldfish make %
hundred weight when dried"
How do they know when the cod are
running ON the banks:''
"A little fish called the caplin. about
seven inches long, precedes them, swim
ming on the surface IN enormous swarms.
| The col follow them in To dcvuur them.
| The fishermen take the caplin for bait.
| These little caplin fish. when they come
| toward shore, are ~ thick that man
| can stand ON the hanks with Il casting net
| and till a cart with them in an hour.
| The caplin are used 10y the farmers for
manure, and are put up Ike sardincS.
| Next come the squids or CrIttleii-h, which
remain six or seven weeks. and are al. .
| the fall These halt iishes, run from the
LIST of June till near winter, ami without
| them hardly anything could be done in
! capturing the cod.
.'Why is the Goldfish particularly valu-
| able
| because you can eat nearly every
| part of it, or use it somehow. The head
is good; they make gJIano of the ofIal and
bones as good rs Peruvian guanO; from
the bladder isinglass Is made; they send
the roe to France as bait for sar,lines; the
tongue and sounds are sold in Boston and
| New York for delicacies. -
.'How do they take the cod ashore and
dissect him."
The Newfoundland or Cape Breton
| fisherman comes right in from sea and
Lands at a platform projecting over the
water. With kind Of pitchfork he
filings the fish on this; man up there
with sharp knife sewers the gills from
the belly, Sits the abdomen 10 the vent,
and makes cut on each side of the head
near the base of the skull. Another man
takes out the liver for cod liver oil, pulls
Oft the head, removes the bowels, whS Ii
are thrown into scow for manure. The
| tongues and bladders are taken out and
| picked. Then a third man. called a spit
| ter, puts the body of the fish ON its hack,
holds it open with the left hand, and cuts
along one side of the backbone To the
tail. The backbone is then taken ont
and the fish salted on the floor and
spread out ON flakes TO be dried. When
they are packed they are divided into the
understandable. the West India, and the
broken fish. The West India cod is eaten
by negroes. Cor. Cincinnati Enquirer.